Govt officials making 'big money' off liquor prohibition policy: Patna HC

Court slams Bihar government, says policy has become handy for police, who are working in tandem with smugglers

The Patna High Court on Friday slammed the Bihar government over its prohibition policy, saying the legislation has “given rise to unauthorised trade of liquor and other contraband items” and has become a tool for government officials to make “big money”.  

 

“The draconian provisions have become handy for the police, who are in tandem with the smugglers,” Justice Purnendu Singh wrote in his 24-page judgment passed on October 19, which was uploaded on November 13. 

 

According to the report in The Indian Express, the single-judge bench said “Innovative ideas to hoodwink law enforcing agencies have evolved to carry and deliver the contraband. Not only the police officials (and) excise officials, but also officers of the state tax department and the transport department love the liquor ban — for them it means big money.” 

 

 

The Patna HC quashed the suspension of Mukesh Kumar Paswan, a former inspector at Patna's Bypass Police Station, calling it an “infringement of natural justice”. Paswan was suspended in November 2020 after a liquor seizure during a state excise raid. The court also criticized the state government for failing to effectively enforce the Bihar Prohibition and Excise Act, 2016. 

 

“I find it proper to record here that the Article 47 of the Constitution of India, while (sic) mandating the duty of the state to raise standards of living and to improve the public health at large and as such the state government enacted Bihar Prohibition and Excise Act, 2016 with the said objective, but for several reasons, it finds itself on the wrong side of the history,” court said.  

 

The Bihar government has come under flak for its prohibition policy, a key pre-poll promise by Nitish Kumar when he contested Assembly elections in 2015, and which propelled him to power by getting him a substantial portion of women’s votes. Not surprisingly, it was also one of the first ones he fulfilled after coming to power, and a policy that has remained unchanged since 2016 through his many switches between the political parties in an attempt to stay in the CM’s post.  

 

To make matters worse, prohibition in the state – only the second one to have such a law after Gujarat – has led to over 250 deaths due to hooch, or illicit liquor, brewed in unauthorised and unregulated distilleries, the Indian equivalent of moonshine. As recently as October, at least 39 people died across three districts after consuming the deadly brew.  

 

A representative from the state's prohibition department told The Indian Express that it would be "inappropriate to comment on the court ruling" but acknowledged that the court had raised several "valid questions and concerns".